Deeper Bonds
by TheDragonsTale
Summary: What was going on in the world of hunter x hunter before Gon and Killuna where born. What happens with the previous generation of hunters? What happens when Gon and Killuna find out the friendship between their parents?
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

There was a crack of a whip. Again and again and again. I couldn't see who, as my eyes were shut with pain. Oh yeah, I'm the one being whipped. I'm probably the only 7 year old in the entire country who gets whipped on a daily basis.

The scars on my back are screaming with pain from thousands of whiplashes. The thought made me want to yell and scream like a child. But I don't know if I even consider myself a child anymore. As I fall into a state of depression blackness swirls around me swallowing me whole.

Silva wakes up from his nightmare with a small shiver, turning off his alarm clock. He glances at the time: 1am, perfect. Silva creeps quietly out of bed, tiptoeing gently across the room to the door, pushing it open.

He thanks his training as an assassin as he makes his way silently along the dimly lit hallway, pausing occasionally to check if he was being followed. If he was caught sneaking out of the estate it would definitely result in severe punishment from his parents.

Exiting the hallway, Silva darts through the forest surrounding the Zoldyck estate. He vaults the wall surrounding the upper area of the estate with a quick check for any patrolling butlers.

Arriving at the south wall he weaves between a thick knot of trees and ducks through a secret tunnel and arrives in a clearing in the woods on the other side. Brushing the dirt off his clothes, he looks up to see his best friend sitting casually on a tree branch with half a smile on his face. Silva echos the smile back up to his friend. He jumps up onto the branch to sit next to his friend, "Hello Ging!

"Hey." Ging replies as he takes a moment to study his friend, "Whipping or nightmare?"

Ah. This is a game that Ging likes to play that he so graciously dubbed 'read the assassin' which competes Silva's emotion hiding with Ging's incredible observation skills. So far, Ging hasn't been wrong.

"Both," Silva says, not wanting to lie to his first friend, "I had a nightmare about whipping, you invasive psychic." Just because he doesn't lie to him doesn't mean he has to be nice.

Ging jumps to a branch above them and hangs upside down so his face is on the same level as Silva's, "I like to think I can read into you because you're my best friend."

Silva scoffs, "You can read into anyone, and we both know that."

Ging brushes him off, "It's easy to read into people when they're sitting right in front of you with a face that is literally an open book."

Silva scowls, "I am NOT an open book."

Ging just smiles, "Sure, sure. Let's go and do something already."

Silva shrugs, "Wanna spar?"

Now Ging is scowling at Silva, "You always want to spar, you never have any sense of adventure! We don't even get to explore your house!"

Silva facepalms, "How many times to I have to tell you that my house is filled with a bunch of deadly assassins who would not hesitate to kill you simply for being near me."

"You're just being a wuss" Ging said, "Which is surprising since you're a 'deadly assassin who would not hesitate to kill me'."

"I could never kill you," Silva said while Ging sat there smug, "I would die with the overflow of joy the universe had at the ceasing of your existence."

Ging feigned being hurt, "Ouch. That was cruel."

"Well I have to be cruel, I am the heir to a family of assassins." Silva retorted.

"Anyways," Ging said, "I found another ruin recently, let's explore there."

"Yeah," Silva smiled, "Let's go.""


	2. Poisonous Plants

**2 years previous**

From the moment he sat down in his seat, Ging knew he was on the wrong bus.

"Hello, my name is Kiwi Loo and I will be your bus guide for the trip up to Kukuroo mountain!" A cheery seeming orange haired woman says into the speaker held in her hand and Ging thought.

 _Why are adults always so stupid_. Ging sighed, closing his eyes and listening to Kiwi list facts about the mountain and the Zoldyck family. _Who knows? Maybe there's some interesting stuff there_ Ging thought boredly, only slightly cheered up at the thought.

Kiwi said some more stuff about Kukuroo mountain, and pointed it out on the left side of the bus in that annoying voice of hers. A vein bulged on his forehead and he suppressed the urge to punch her.

Opening one eye he analyzed the mountains and surrounding forest _It just looks like your normal everyday…_ something caught his eye. A flicker of movement near the top of Kukuroo mountain, shrouded by the mist. _Now that's unusual_ Ging smiled, a glint in his eyes.

The bus finally stopped at the entrance and everyone filled out of the bus. Ging looks at the giant doors and grunt _Definitely can't open those, they must be at least a ton each!_ Takes a glance at the wall _low chance of being able to scale that either. Guess I'll go around._

Ging starts heading off into the woods to the south of the gate but is interrupted by the annoying bus tour guide.

"Don't wander off, we'll be leaving soon!"

Ging turns for a moment, "No, _you'll_ be leaving soon," and continues walking away into the dense woods, leaving a sputtering Kiwi behind trying to find his parents.

 _Ha, good luck with that_ the thought of the flustered tour guide made Ging break out into a happy run. After a while, Ging found a place where the branches of a tree on the inside of the wall loosened the dirt under the wall. Ging dug through the soft dirt and poked his head out on the other side _I made it in._

 **Silva's POV**

Today was poison resistance. There was a room in the mansion completely dedicated to storing the thousands of poisons used in poison resistance and for jobs. By the end of the session Silva had hives all over my body and had thrown up everything his stomach could offer.

Zeno appeared to be disappointed at the results but he said nothing, he rarely ever did. Silva was a strange child of the Zoldyck family, even after the torture he was put through, he still wanted to be like a kid. _I wonder what other kids are like_ he pondered.

It was just Zeno, Maha, Silva and his mother in the estate, so he had never actually met any other children before. In one of his culture studies for how to act like an innocent child he read that children asked weird questions and cried a lot.

 _Good thing I'm not an innocent child then. But still… I wonder if kids are really like that?_

After a couple hours in this train of thought Silva found that he wandered off to the southern section of the estate. He turned around to start walking back to the mansion, but then he heard a twig snap and he froze.

Zeno said that he wasn't ready fight some opponents, and that if you are not 100% of winning to run away as fast as I could. I immediately concealed my presence and the footsteps stopped for a moment before picking up speed before slowing down to a stealth walk. I was completely and utterly shocked when a kid my age appeared from the undergrowth.

 _I can take him_ I thought, _this kid probably just got lost and wandered onto the estate_ but I knew that was wrong before I thought it. The entire estate is surrounded by a huge wall, which I sometimes wonder if it was to keep intruders out, or me in.

I could not suppress my growing curiosity overpowering the driven in instinct to kill him. I was startled out of my deep thought by the child in front of me.

"I didn't know that assassins had kids" The spiky haired child said obnoxiously.

"Well why not?" I retorted harshly. _I guess that kids are like I was told._

"Fair point. I didn't think about whether they had kids or not. Think about it, if I go up to a stand to buy some… chocolates for example, I don't ponder if the stand employee has kids or not."

Silva blinks. Ok. Not what he was told kids were like. Taking a look at the kid, he realised that the kid's clothes were all dirty. He was struck by realisation.

"Did you… dig under the wall?"

"Yep!" The child said, and the loudness of his voice reminded Silva exactly where they were.

"Shhhhhh," Silva hissed and whispered, "You need to leave before my dad comes back."

The black haired kid pouted, "But I wanted to play with you some more!"

Silva felt something bad is going to happen really soon if he doesn't get the kid out of there.

"Later!" Silva whispered franticly.

The kid took Silva's hands and locked pinkies with him before shaking their hands, "It's a promise."

"Yeah. sure, promise." Silva said hurriedly, "Now go!"

"See ya." The kid gave a wave before disappearing into the woods.

About a minute later, Zeno came. Taking a glance around the area, his gaze fell back onto Silva. He grabbed Silva by the arm.

"Isolation training," He stated, directly to the point, "7 days, no food."

Silva nodded, not like he could do anything else, "Yes father."

The isolation chamber felt really oppressing. He had never had any problem with the chamber before, just go in and wait until the time is up. But now, it made him feel hollow as his thoughts roamed.

 _Did something change since the last time I was here?_ Silva thought as he looked around the dark room. The room was plain and boring. _Nevermind… if anything changed I would've realized it as soon as I walked in._

Silva continued to think, which was the only thing the isolation chamber was good for really. _If the isolation chamber didn't change, then my perception of the isolation chamber changed?_

That brought his thoughts back to earlier today. The kid his age who managed to sneak into the Zoldyck compound.

It was so funny though, that he had to fight the temptation to laugh. No adults in his family nor adults trying to get past the wall ever considered digging under it. They just assumed that if you put a really big wall there that the only way past it is over or through.

Well, over near the gates it extends underground. Otherwise the bombs would bring the wall down, but if they had digging equipment, they could easily get under it.

A kid, who probably isn't even in gr.1 yet, outsmarted hundreds of adults with one simple act.

That kid. Silva's thoughts were brought back to the black haired 6 year old. The thought came to him.

 _The isolation chamber didn't work before because I was already isolated._ The more he thought the more he was surprised. Someone was able to bring him out of an isolation he had since birth in approximately 5 minutes.

 _Who is he?_

 **Ging's POV**

Ging casually walked through the streets of the town, hands behind his head in a way that comically made him look like a bored teenager. Who was 6.

 _Ah, now I'm bored again._ Ging thought as he blew a strand of hair out of his face. Kukuroo mountain was fun to explore, and he was able to talk to someone his age who wasn't a half-wit.

 _Not that adults aren't half-wits either._ Ging reflects as he enters an apothecary that he spotted.

"Welcome," A voice chimed as he went in, "How can I h-" The store manager stopped as he saw Ging, and switched his tone of voice to a baby tone.

"Hey little guy, are you lost?" The man said.

Ging was now irritated, "No, I am not lost, I came here to take a look around if you don't mind." Ging was still polite even if the man was annoying. Afterall, other kids his age don't even know what an apothecary is.

The man seemed a bit surprised, but that quickly passed. "Go ahead. I'll be out back if you plan to buy anything."

Ging didn't plan on buying anything, but he was genuinely pleased with the drop of the babying attitude. He walked around the store and read some of the plaques that said what they were for and where to find them.

Something caught his eye. A red plant in the corner of the room that he had seen plenty of on the Zoldyck property. Interesting.

As he was about to reach out and grab the plant the apothecary owner pulled him away.

"Don't go near that plant, it releases toxic fumes that can damage the mind. It's especially dangerous for young people.

"But this plant grows a lot near my friends house." Ging said, "His mind seems alright."

"You'd want to remove those as quickly as possible," The store owner replied, "The changes aren't often noticeable very quickly, as this plant dulls the will and individuality of those who inhale its fumes."

"Then why do you have it?" Ging asked.

"It's a useful pain reducer for adults, but with children the effects on the mind are great. It's nicknamed the soul eating plant because children who inhale it enough will become like robots. Detached and won't do anything if it's not an order. This plant is actually illegal in many countries as they would use them to make child slaves obedient."

Gings eyes were wide, "Is there a cure?"

"With minimal exposure to the plant, the effects will eventually go away. With higher rates of exposure the only way to cure them is to administer some sort of emotional shock, which is extremely difficult as their emotions are dulled."

"Thanks mister," Ging said as he started to run out of the shop.

"Feel free to drop by again sometime!" The store owner called after him.

As Ging ran back towards Kukuroo mountain he had only one thought in his head.

 _The white-haired boy._

 **Authors Notes: This story is beginning when they are 6 years old. Ging and Silva are not the same age in canon but they will be the same age for the purpose of this story. The prologue is 2 years ahead of the story as a glimpse of the future, but the present time in the story is when Ging and Silva are 6.**


End file.
